Per a Facebook post by Mark Waid, comic book editor and writer Brian Augustyn died yesterday, February 1, following a severe stroke over the weekend. He was 67. Augustyn was best known for collaborating with Waid as editor and co-writer of his run on “The Flash” in the 1990s, and for writing Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell’s 1989 one-shot “Gotham by Gaslight,” which became retroactively known as DC’s first ‘Elseworlds’ comic.
Augustyn was born on November 2, 1954, and broke into the comics industry editing the fantasy series “Trollords” at Tru Studios in 1986. He then edited “Syphons,” and an adaptation of “Speed Racer” at NOW Comics in 1987. He joined DC Comics as co-editor on “Action Comics” the subsequent year, and became editor of “The Flash” in 1989. He edited the first four years of Waid’s 1992-2000 run, and then co-wrote the title from 1996 to 1997, and again from 1998 to 2000.
He and Waid also co-wrote 1998’s graphic novel “The Life Story of the Flash,” as well as 1992’s DC/Impact comic “The Crusaders,” Event Comics’ “Painkiller Jane” and “Ash: Cinder & Smoke” in 1997, Valiant’s “X-O Manowar” in 1997, “JLA: Year One” in 1998, and 2018’s “Archie 1941,” plus its follow-up “Archie 1955.” His other work included a 1992 sequel to “Gotham by Gaslight,” “Batman: Master of the Future;” Rags Morales’s 1992 “Black Condor” run; Jim Baikie’s 1993 vigilante tale “Blackmask;” and Humberto Ramos, Oscar Pinto, and Francisco Haghenbeck’s 1998 WildStorm vampire saga “Crimson.”
Augustyn was honored during his lifetime with the Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Editor in 1994. He is survived by his wife Nadine and daughters Carrie and Allie. Waid stated, “If you’ve ever been a friend, colleague, or fan of Brian’s — or, frankly, a fan of the work done by Humberto Ramos, Mike Wieringo, Mike Parobeck, Oscar Jimenez, Howard Porter, Travis Charest, or any of the many, many other creators who owe their careers to Brian, myself included — I’m asking you to send a card or a note to his wife Nadine and daughters Carrie and Allie to express your condolences and tell them what he meant to you.” You can find details on how to send “something tangible, something on paper, something they can treasure,” on Waid’s Facebook.
